A sign noting that Banks is served by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office on NW Banks Rd. Photo: Chas Hundley
The following is written by deputy Ryan Pope with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the agency that is contracted to provide police services in Banks.
*Deputy Frank Ward has returned to duty and is finalizing some details to be back here in Banks within the week.
*This week the position for the second full-time municipal partner deputy for Banks will be chosen to work with Deputy Ward.
In June there were three protests in the city.
On 6/11 before the first protest 2 inappropriate anti-police signs were left in Log Cabin Park threatening police with violence. Signs were removed.
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6/12 the first BLM protest was held with estimated 200-300 attendees. The event was permitted and planed and remained peaceful. There were 3 deputies in town to monitor the event.
6/20 another planned and permitted BLM protest was held with 20-30 participants. 2 deputies were in town to monitor the event.
There were no issues related to the protest and it remained peaceful.
6/27 an unplanned/unpermitted BLM protest was held with a reported 15-20 participants. The protest remained peaceful and a deputy was in town to monitor the protest.
During June there were not many note worthy calls for service. Although stats show 13 reports several were informational and not involving criminal investigations. There were two separate incidents involving behavioral issues where deputies and MHRT assisted and one incident resulted in a Police Officer Mental Hold and the other was resolved without needing to take the person into custody.
Another report was for a stolen vehicle and there are no leads and the vehicle has not been recovered to date.
There have been two additional vandalism reports made with no suspect information.
